Second salon hit with fine to play radio

A second Preston hairdresser has been hit with a bill for having a radio on while giving customers a cut.

Sarah Shaw, who lives on Birkdale Drive, Savick, received a bill for £341.34 from music royalties collector Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) for playing the radio in her salon on the estate and then, just three days later, got hit with a £170.68 fine for failing to pay.

Now, she is refusing to pay the money having already bought a licence from music royalties body, the Performing Rights Society (PRS).

She is the latest hairdresser from the city to be caught with a bill after Neil Hull, of the House of Hair and Beauty on Friargate, was ordered to pay £1,500 to the PPL by the High Court this week.

Sarah, 30, said: “I got phone calls from the PPL when I was not available and they refused to leave a number, so I naturally thought it was a scam.

“Until this case came up at the House of Hair and Beauty, I had never heard of the PPL.

“I think they are targeting hairdressers because they see us as an easy target because there must be plenty of other businesses out there which play music to customers.

“I have taken the radio out of the store now and am just waiting to see what happens, but I do not want to pay it.”

The letter she received from the PPL states that “a customer” had heard “background music” playing in her salon on two occasions last month.

A PPL spokesman said it took infringement of its members’ copyright “very seriously.”

He added: “PPL is separate from PRS, which collects a licence fee on behalf of composers and music publishers.”